The Heir of Slytherin
by Arrowcat
Summary: A story about Tom Riddles days at Hogwarts.
1. Prologue

A/N: This was just an idea I had when I was writing my other fic, Slytherin Potter ::Shameless Plug:: I'd like feed back as to whether I should continue this or not ^.^   
  
Disclaimer: Do I look like I own it?  
  
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A tall, skinny, black haired, green eyed, boy of about 11 was laying on his back on the top bunk of a bed reading a book. He was in a room filled with many other bunk-beds and many other boys of a verity of ages, in the orphanage in witch he had grown up. He had been there as long as he could remember, the caretakers there had always told him that his mother had died right after giving birth to him. They didn't know where, or who, his father was.   
This boy had always hated the orphanage, he liked to fantasize about about a stranger, maybe his father, coming and taking him away to some far off land full of magic and adventure like in all his books.   
Little did he know he was about to get his wish.   
"Hay, you have mail." Said one of the women who watched over them as she walked passed his bed, flinging a letter at him.   
At first he didn't even look at the letter, he was getting to the end of his book and the climax was just getting underway. But then again, he hardly ever got mail, and the book could always wait.   
He picked up the letter. The envelope was made of heavy, yellowish, parchment. His name and the orphanage address was clearly written on the front in green ink. The letter was closed by a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a snake, lion, eagle, and badger surrounding a large letter H. He carefully opened the envelope and pulled out the letter which read:   
  
HOGWARTS SCHOOL   
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY  
Headmaster: Armando Dippet  
  
Dear Mr. Riddle,   
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.   
  
Tom Marvolo Riddle jr. read this first line over and over, his wishes had finally come true.   
  
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So, what do you think? Do you like the idea of a story of Toms days at Hogwarts? Please review and tell me if you think I should continue this. 


	2. Lights & Vanessa

Ok, I finally actually continued this, well I had most of this chapter written but just not finished so.... anyway.... If you are reading my other fanfic don't expect updates to it any time soon, or at all really..... I don't really like it so I'm not sure I'll continue it....   
As for this fanfic.... I don't have much to say about it.... in the last chapter I had Professor Dippet's first name wrong but that had been changed. I hope you like this chapter. Oh yah! Almost forgot. There is a very, very slight OotP spoiler in here. But its one of those things that you kinnda have to know it happens to know it's a spoiler and like I said very slight.   
  
Disclaimer: Is there any point in writing this? Dose any one think I'm claiming to own Harry Potter? Or that I'm getting any money from posting this on a public site for all to read?   
  
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Dear Mr. Riddle,  
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.   
A volunteer Witch, or Wizard will arrive tomorrow to answer your questions and to assist you with purchasing the books and equipment you will need for school (See enclosed list). Yours sincerely, Albus Dumbledore, Deputy Headmaster   
  
Tom couldn't believe his eyes, this had to be some sort of joke. He unfolded the second piece of paper and scanned through the list, his eyes lingering on things like, One pair of protective gloves (dragon hide or similar), The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble and, under Other Equipment, 1 wand.   
He was especially interested in the note that said; Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad. Did people really keep owls as pets? Or toads for that matter? In all the books he'd read with witches in them they almost always owned one of these three animals so it did make some since that you could bring them to a school for magic.   
He looked over the first letter again, 'A volunteer Witch or Wizard will arrive tomorrow to answer your questions...'   
Well he defiantly had a lot of questions, that was for sure. He couldn't wait for tomorrow, even though in the back of his mind he couldn't help but thinking this wasn't possible.   
But this thought was soon overruled by his excitement and, after all, how many books had he read where the hero had never know about the magical world they were taken to until they were taken to it?   
Tom jumped when the bell for dinner rung, he hastily stuffed the letter under his pillow and ran downstairs to the cafeteria, not wanting to be last in line.   
As he waited in line he day dreamed about what going to a school for Witchcraft and Wizardry would be like. What sort of magic would that teach? Who would be teaching for that matter? What would a magical school look like? Were there really, living dragons out there?   
He ate his dinner in silence as the other boys around him chatted loudly. No one paid much attention to him. No one ever did. Tom have never really had any friends, preferring to read about people in books then try to meet real people. No one had ever sought out to keep his company ether, strange things had been known to happen around him, so people usually kept their distants.  
  
When dinner was finished he trudged back upstairs, a little behind the other boys. Just as he reached the large room they all slept in, an older boy, named Liam, and some of his friends were leaving. As he walked by him Liam purposely ran into Tom, knocking him to the ground. Liam and his friends laughed stupidly at him as Tom picked himself of the ground. This was not the first time something like this had happened but for some reason it made him particularly mad. As soon as Tom had gotten to his feet Miles, one of Liam's friends, shoved him against the wall. Everyone who was watching laughed.   
This was the last straw. His hart boiled with rage. He was a wizard wasn't he? He couldn't let them bully him around any more. But he didn't know any magic. He tried just willing his magic to do something, anything. He felt a rush of power within himself. The light fixture over head exploded, showering the people underneath with glass and sparks. Several people shrieked.   
Amazingly (or maybe not so amazingly) nothing had touched Tom.   
  
The problem with the light had taken quite sometime to work out and by the time he got back to his bed it was already lights out. He had hoped to get another chance to look at his letter but there was no way to read it in the dark.   
He lay awake for a long time, listening to the sounds of the other boys sleeping, and thinking about today.   
Had he really done magic and made the light explode or was it just a freak power surge like everyone else had said? It was, however, not the first time something strange had happened around him. Were those other times also, maybe, because of his magic? A million and one thoughts raced through his head and at some point these thoughts became dreams.   
At first he dreamed of magic and dragons and other things he had always loved reading about.   
But at some point the dream changed. He started to dream about a large snake, almost 30 feet long.  
Then of a strange mark that appeared on his arm, the mark was jet black and depicted a rather ugly skull with a serpent coming out of its mouth.   
He saw about twenty people all wearing black, hooded robes and masks. He knew that these people were under his command.  
His hart filled with rage as the killing curse he had flung and an old man with long slivery hair and beard was swallowed by what he knew to be a phoenix.  
He was floating away from a destroyed house as something not quite alive, but not quite dead ether.   
Then, for just a second, he saw a face of a boy, about his age, who also had black hair and green eyes. But this boy also had a small, thin lighting shaped scar on his forehead. The sight of this boy filled him with a strange sense of dread.  
When Tom woke up in the morning he could not remember the dream.   
  
During breakfast the next day one of the orphanage caretakers came over to him and told him there was someone here to see him. He followed the woman out into the front hall, there a he was greeted by a smiling, middle aged woman.   
There was something odd about this woman thought he could not quite place what it was. She walked over to him and stretched out her hand.  
"You most be Tom Riddle, my name is Vanessa Halvor. I'm here about the letter you received yesterday." She said in a rather sweet, almost motherly sounding voice.   
Tom took her outstretched hand and shook it. He realized what the odd sense he got from this woman must be, she was a witch.   
"Is there someplace I can talk to Tom more privately?" Vanessa asked, turning to the woman who had led Tom in.  
The woman nodded and led them over to the small study that was usually only used for greeting important guests or, Tom now supposed, for meetings like this.   
"Tom, will you be a dear and run and get your letter?"  
"Sure" said Tom, who quickly raced upstairs to grab the letter that was sill hidden under his pillow.   
When he came back into the study Vanessa was patiently waiting for him, sitting in one of the over-stuffed arm chairs.   
"Come on, sit down," she said, gesturing to the chair across form her. "I'm sure you have lots of questions."   
He sat down nervously across from her. So many questions were racing through his head. The most prominent of these thought was the one he asked first.  
"Is this real? I mean, I don't want to be rude but, are you really a witch? Can you do magic? Can I do magic?" He said, looking at her eagerly. She smiled at him and said,  
"Yes I am a witch, and yes, I can do magic, as you soon well be able to do. If you choose to got to Hogwarts that is."   
"Of course I want to go!" He said excitedly.  
"I thought you would," said Vanessa, smiling at him. "Now, were going to need to go to London to get your school stuff. But, maybe we should have a little snack before we go, it will take us a little while to get there the Muggle way." She reached into her purse and pulled out what could only be a wand. She waved her wand in the air and a sliver platter with a large assortment of cookies and other sweets appeared.   
Tom gaped at her. He slowly reached forward and took one of the cookies off that platter that was still floating in mid-air where Vanessa had conjured it. He took a small bite, it was very good.   
"What did you mean, 'the Muggle way'?" he asked, his mouth half full.   
"Don't talk with your mouth full." She said in a friendly but stern voice.  
"Sorry." He said with his mouth still full, she only gave him a slightly stern look.  
"A Muggle is what we call a non wizard, someone with no magic ability. Thus, traveling the Muggle was would mean traveling without any magic. For instance, we are going to take a bus to London. Make sense?"   
"Yah, I think so. How do you travel with magic?" Tom said wonderingly.  
"Floo Powder mostly, well for underage wizards like yourself, its through a fireplace, its hard to explain. Some people use broomsticks to fly for short distances. Most people just learn to Apparate, to disappear, or Disapparate, from one place then to appear, or Apparate in another please. But you have to be of age to even take the Apparation test." Vanessa explained. She then looked at her watch. "Oh, were running late, better get going." She stood up and vanished the sweet filled platter.   
  
They walked about three blocks to the bus stop and were just in time to catch the bus. The bus was not very crowded as it was late morning on a Wednesday so they were able to sit in the back of the bus with no one around to over hear them.   
Tom rapid fired questions at Vanessa about anything and everything and she tried to answer as best she could. Tom was almost running out of things to ask by the time they got to London but that wasn't saying much, it was a long ride to London.   
They got of the bus as Tom looked around in amazement, he'd never been to London or any city remotely as big. The walked a few blocks passed stores of all kinds until they finally stopped outside a rather dingy looking pub. A battered sine outside reading "The Leaky Cauldron".   
  
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I'm really busy so if I'm going to write more I need to know people like it, soooo R&R! 


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